State likely to fall short on Saints payment

this is a discussion within the Saints Community Forum; http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital...9343315960.xml
Hotel-motel tax collections are less than needed
David Weidler, the Superdome's senior director of finance and administration, said hotel tax collections totaled $20.16 million through November, compared with slightly more than $16 million collected through the same period in ...

David Weidler, the Superdome's senior director of finance and administration, said hotel tax collections totaled $20.16 million through November, compared with slightly more than $16 million collected through the same period in 2003. A portion of the taxes are a major source of financing the Saints' 10-year, $186 million deal, struck in 2001 by Saints owner Tom Benson and then-Gov. Mike Foster to keep the National Football League team in the state.

I apologize to everyone here for ever thniking that it was OK for the State to pay the Saints a subsidy to stay in Louisiana. I just didn\'t want the team to leave and I guess that clouded my vision.

Our state is not exactly in a good financial position these days and Benson knows that. We are worse off than we were in \'01 when the deal was signed. Does benson care? Hell no! He says he \"expects the state to honor its financial commitments to the team.\"

Forget that he\'s getting rich(er) off the state. he was making money before the subsidy - he can make money without it.

I\'m so sick of Benson\'s attitude about all of this I\'m ready to call the govenor and say that even though I am a fan, breach the contract and force Benson to either support himself or move. If he wants a new stadium he can build it himself.

I don\'t care what the costs. If they move, they move. No more being held hostage to a 70 something year old extortionist who calls in his complaints about payments from his 10 million dolllar yacht.

:mad2:

I don\'t care where additional money can be found to pay Benson. It doesn\'t matter. No other state is paying a professional team to stay (to my knowledge) and we need to get out of that deal soon. Whatever the cost. Benson doesn\'t care about anything except his pocket book and that is more and more obvious.

And all for a team that has won ONE playoff game in 37 years. What a jerk.

Several months ago..I posted an article stating that the State was allready scrambling to make the payments due to the Saints...

They were having to borrow from this place and that...and were running out of options...and ..out of money...

Tom Benson knows what he is doing...he is an old man...he is setting his family up for generations to come...

The State , once they realize that there is no easy way out of this...are going to be forced into voiding out of the contract within two years...they simply cannot afford to have an NFL team without help...Infact..Texas investors are the ONLY REASON that this State still has the Saints...

Chances are..Benson knows that fact..and he also still wants to set his family up for the future...how can he make it happen?...

Play hard ball with the State...they can\'t play as long as Benson, they are just too financially strapped down...and Los Angeles will be the answer to both of thier problems....

IF...If by the time to set up the team in L.A., noone else has sold..or chosen to move..We will be the team...

When all this chaos began..we found that we will have 2 - 3 years..tops..to get finalized in New Orleans...

\"you can\'t get blood from a turnip\"
It\'s just way to much money for the state of Louisiana to come up with, when you don\'t have it you don\'t have it.
I want a 2005 Corvette this year, now I don\'t have the money to buy it so I would have to borrow the money, let Benson borrow the money himself and leave the state alone for god\'s sake, the state has been good to the Saints since calling their home here

i cant argue one way or another on the state and the saints. but to talk about how your state is in a bad position do you think any of that has to do with the amount of money you pay to your elected officials or the money you pay for them to travel or the money you pay for the gov. house utility bills. what about the money you pay to the many find people that vote but dont work. how about the over paid state workers you have to pay for. or the meaningless jobs invented by elected officials to say thank you for the people that helped them get elected. you to the victor go\'s the spoils.

i cant speak of your state but our news channel broke a story here in va like 3 years ago about a program where they were picking up unemployed people and driving them to work in a limo. thoise people would have the limo stop at the store on the way to work for little things here and there. then our gov. got in office and raised taxes because we had a defecit in our budget. then a couple of months after he raised taxes for the defecit he was talking about spending several millions of dollars on minortiy programs. this is how it was termed in the newspaper and from the gov. now we found out just a few months a go that there is a surplus in the amount of taxes collected. some 900 million dollars over the next couple of years. is he giving it back. nope. they are finding new ways to spend my money. i never side with the government. they are equally thieves. i scrape by so theese *****s can give to the less fortunate. f the less fortunate.

at the same time i cant side with benson. they just need to come to an agreement.